The Disinformation Cartel

Don't believe everything coming out of Colombia...

The Columbia Journal online and PRwatch.org report that initial reports of a massacre in Colombia blamed on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are untrue. In fact, the basis of the report relied on the word of only one governmental official, and thus was assumed true and taken at face-value...

The truth came to light that FARC was not involved but another and different "demobilized right-wing group". Reuters or any other American media outlet failed however to follow-up the story with the accurate information. Only a Spanish based media outlet followed-up on the story. The criticism lies on the American media for not digging deeper into events in Colombia, rather relying on government officials who may use the media for their own propagandastic need. It also well known that the United States backs the current government of Colombia fully in their pursuit of FARC:

U.S. and Colombian officials are fully aware that this practice provides them with an excellent opportunity to propagandize on current events and that the truth, when finally revealed, will rarely be reported.

Further on, concerning an U.N. Report:

On February 13, the United Nations released its annual human rights report in which it stated that there had been an increase in extra-judicial killings by Colombian soldiers and police in 2005. It went on to note that government forces often dressed the corpses as guerrillas and presented them as combat deaths. According to the report, “Cases were recorded in which commanders themselves had allegedly supported the act of dressing the victims in guerrilla garments to cover up facts and simulate combat.

Failure to comply to the duty of reporting on governmental actions accurately creates a mode of disinformation to be sown into the public. This in turn lets a government utilize the media as a means of spreading their agenda or propaganda if information such as this is not checked. As much as a media keeps the internal workings of a government in check it becomes necessary to also keep foreign policy in check as well:

When journalists and media outlets frequently decide to rely solely on official sources for information, they have made a conscious editorial decision to repeatedly provide the public with only one point of view. And, inevitably, it is the point of view of government officials who have a vested interest in how news events are presented to the public. In other words, the media has simply chosen to act as a mouthpiece for Washington, particularly with regard to U.S. foreign policy issues that rarely get covered in any depth.

In short, government official = PR...they are always trying to push across their point-of-view or interests. Always look for the truth beyond that.